Hubpages has a bad reputation? Why?

1. 68

   ptosisposted 7 years ago

   https://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/hubpages.html
   
   I'm looking at how I used to get some money here but now - fuggedaboutit. and I think I know why. If I go on a browser with no history and look at the first home landing page - it feels like a real nice place.
   
   Maybe it's the people I'm following but when I go to my feed it's all hate filled cranks.
   
   I don't know why I keep coming back other than I'm compelled to by some hub addiction?

   replyreport
   1. 0

      Christy Kirwanposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      ConsumerAffairs.com is essentially an organization that requires businesses to pay for positive exposure and is not typically considered a legitimate source for unbiased information.

      replyreport
      1. 84

         NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         +1
         I didn't know they were a scam site who's been sued. Interesting. I knew they looked fishy.

         replyreport
      2. 68

         ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Ok ... I got that.   Just wondering why google considers Hubpages not good enough for first page results. I remember when the Hummingbird algorithm started .. And that was years ago. It seems to be troubling that the most active forum posters are RWNJs

         replyreport
         1. 89

            theraggededgeposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Lots of hubbers get their articles on the first page of search engine results. Are you aware of the niche sites? They are not under the HubPages domain.

            replyreport
            1. 68

               ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Yeah... I saw that with a clear browser history... I didn't know there were so many different niches.   Didn't like the layout personally. Had to scroll down to see entire website.  Not very visually appealing IMHO.  But I'm sure is a hit with the younger crowd?
               
               What demographic dominates hubages in all these niches?  And how do writers gear writing towards a large demographic?  Are there stats anywhere?

               replyreport
               1. 88

                  Will Apseposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Alexa is not that reliable, but you could take a look if you are interested.
                  
                  http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/owlcation.com
                  
                  Swap out owlcation for the other niches.

                  replyreport
                  1. 70

                     makingamarkposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     The resource I find particularly interesting on Alexa - to get a much better sense of a site's ranking within a specific niche is the "SIMILAR SITES" facility - see http://www.alexa.com/find-similar-sites - and plug in a niche site....
                     
                     In my experience it comes up with VERY similar sites - and their relative rankings.
                     
                     I particularly love this tool because of the way it ranks one of my new sites as #1 so I'm maybe a bit biased!

                     replyreport
               2. 86

                  Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  Ptosis, I think you're asking the wrong question.   
                  
                  You asked about HubPages having a bad reputation.   Despite what that site says, it doesn't have a bad reputation amongst writers because it is one of the most reliable and best payers around.   And it doesn't have a bad reputation amongst readers, because most of the general public doesn't even know it exists - around 90% of visitors to HubPages come direct to a single Hub from Google, and don't even notice the name of the site. 
                  
                  The niche sites are the same - they're not aiming at a specific demographic and they're not trying to attract loyal readers who will browse around the site.  They're designed to attract traffic from searches on Google, just like HubPages.   
                  
                  Where they differ is that they are more (or should be) more appealing to Google, because each site specialises in one topic area.   Google has made it clear that it dislikes generalist sites (that's why Squidoo, Yahoo! Voices, Zujava etc etc did not survive).  A good article on a specialist site will always rank better than the same article on a generalist site. In that sense, you may have heard people say that HubPages has a "bad reputation" with Google - because Google has a prejudice against ALL sites like HP.  And that's why HP has started the niche sites and is moving all the best Hubs to those sites.

                  replyreport
                  1. 68

                     ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     Oh! I get it now!. OK.  That makes sense to me.  What I should do is go over my hubs and see ifany of them fit a niche and tune it to be acceptable as a niche.  -Or start another hub - . Thanks for the info

                     replyreport
   2. 84

      NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think you're right about the negativity, at least on the forums. That's why I periodically just stop going to the forums. I'm not here for the forums anyway.

      replyreport
2. 85

   Terrielynn1posted 7 years ago

   Hi Ptosis. how are you. Nice to see back. I saw that page it seems alot of the reviews that are negative are from a few years ago. I wasn't here than It looks like there has been many improvments sinc e then. I love writing here. I hope you stay.

   replyreport
3. 85

   FatFreddysCatposted 7 years ago

   I recognize the first poster on the page in that link - he was using HP to promote a book he wrote on how to "cure" cancer. When the rules started changing around here, the Powers That Be smacked him down and he was obviously less than happy about it. .
   
   Some of the other "reviews" appear to be written by the usual disgruntled suspects - religioso's who are unhappy with the site's supposed anti-Christian bias, people who can't string a sentence together in proper English, etc.
   
   So when you read stuff like this, consider the source(s).

   replyreport
4. 84

   NateB11posted 7 years ago

   Yeah I've seen those reviews, all from people with a grudge against HP. Not a reliable a source.

   replyreport
5. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   There was a huge amount of negativity during the Squidoo merger, and some ex-Squids went on a campaign against HubPages. They felt that Seth Godin should not have transferred their work to another site without their permission and accused HubPages of "theft".
   
   What they all seemed to miss was that the alternative was for Seth to close Squidoo down and then their work would all be gone!  Anyway, it was laughable because as we all know, they had the right to delete their work from HubPages if they wanted, unlike some other sites.

   replyreport
   1. 68

      ptosisposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, that's a bit of history I didn't know. Thankx for the info.

      replyreport
6. 90

   poppyrposted 7 years ago

   Most of the negative reviews on the site you've posted seem to be people who didn't research the rules properly. One man says he was permabanned for posting articles that he had already published elsewhere. This is obviously a violation and the reason he was banned.
   
   Others complain that they don't get responses from moderators but the two times I've had issues the mods have got back to me within a day or two. So either I'm lucky or things have changed.
   
   Hubpages isn't perfect but it's the best site I've written for. A lot of people sign up, post a few hubs then get upset if they don't get rich...

   replyreport